This book is a collection of essays on the Mexican transition to democracy that offers reflections on different aspects of civic culture, the political process, electoral struggles, and critical junctures. They were written at different points in time and even though they have been corrected and adapted, they have kept the tension and fervour with which they were originally created. They provide the reader with a vision of what goes on behind those horrifying images that depict Mexico as a...

This is a historical and anthropological study of the myth of the werewolf aimed at reflecting on the metamorphoses of evil and understanding the long evolution of a mythical structure. Legends and folklore allow us to explore the brutal bestiality of a figure loaded with sexuality, eroticism, and desire. From ancient times to the present day, the tragic narrative universe of a strange and dangerous wild world is unfolded, with elements of tenderness, that has contributed to defining the p...

A profound exploration of the external influences that shape human consciousness, from healing rituals to digital devicesIn this voyage through thousands of years of psychosomatic healing, distinguished anthropologist and sociologist Roger Bartra examines the placebo effect as a key to our understanding of human consciousness. Shamans and Robots demonstrates how biology and technology become intertwined within human culture by using the various histories o...

Pens and swords, words and blows: for Roger Bartra, the culture of ink and the culture of blood offer two contrasting approaches to the political transformations of our time. In this compilation of essays, Bartra thinks through these transformations by tracing the complex interplay between popular culture, nationalist ideology, civil society, and the state in contemporary Mexico.Written with verve over a period of twenty years, these essays—most translated into English here for the...

Sublime madness and ennui: melancholy is a condition of imbalance, chaotic and desolate, and a keystone of modern Western thought. In Angels in Mourning, Roger Bartra explores how three lucid European thinkers – Immanuel Kant, Max Weber and Walter Benjamin – addressed the irrational and the dolorous, drawing attention to some apparently marginal aspects of their work in order to illuminate the way in which they gazed into the darkness.It is not obvious why melancholy should...

In this unique exploration of the mysteries of the human brain, Roger Bartra shows that consciousness is a phenomenon that occurs not only in the mind but also in an external network, a symbolic system. He argues that the symbolic systems created by humans in art, language, in cooking or in dress, are the key to understanding human consciousness. Placing culture at the centre of his analysis, Bartra brings together findings from anthropology and cognitive science and offers an original vis...

This book is a profound exploration of the external influences that shape human consciousness, from healing rituals to digital devices. In this voyage through thousands of years of psychosomatic healing, distinguished anthropologist and sociologist Roger Bartra examines the placebo effect as a key to our understanding of human consciousness. Shamans and Robots demonstrates how biology and technology become intertwined within human culture by using the various histories of ritual a...

The regime of Juan Perón is one of the most studied topics of Argentina's contemporary history. This new book—an English translation of a highly popular, critically acclaimed Spanish language edition—provides a new perspective on the intriguing Argentinian leader. Mariano Plotkin's cultural approach makes Perón's popularity understandable because it goes beyond Perón's charismatic appeal and analyzes the Perónist mechanisms used to generate political consent and mass mobilization. Mañana e...

What future is there for the left, faced with the challenges of the twenty-first century? Based on a lifetime's experience in politics, Marta Harnecker addresses the crisis facing the left today.At its heart, this book is a critique of social democratic realpolitik. Harnecker reminds us that, contrary to today's orthodoxy, politics is not the art of the possible but the art of making the impossible possible by building a social and political force capable of changing reality.

Now in an updated edition, this groundbreaking study develops a new approach to understanding the formation of the postrevolutionary state in Mexico. In a shift away from dominant interpretations, Adam David Morton considers the construction of the revolution and the modern Mexican state through a fresh analysis of the Mexican Revolution, the era of import substitution industrialization, and neoliberalism. Throughout, the author makes interdisciplinary links among geography, political econ...

This book is a narrative study of four main discourses of national identity in Spain, with a special focus on Catalonia as disseminated in the Spanish press in the period between 1993-1996. The narrative analysis of the discourses of national identity is contained within two sections. The first deals with Spanish press coverage of the 1994 USA Football World Cup. The second section studies the process of negotiation towards a political pact between Partido Popular and Convergència I Unió a...

A significant work by one of anthropology's most important scholars, this book provides an introduction to the Chiapas Mayan community of Mexico, better known for their role in the Zapatista Rebellion.